My New 2015 Mazda 6

I love my new Mazda6. This car rocks. I was all set to buy a Nissan Leaf when I drove it for a night and got range anxiety. I still want to own an electric car and think that once they either get the range up, the price down and or the charging infrastructure built out Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) will be the only cars built in the future.

Anyway, what is it I love about my Mazda6.

For the cars in its's class you get far more car for the buck. The competition according to the competition are the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford Focus and Nissan Altima among the Big 4.

Apparently even Car and Driver recognized the Mazda 6 as the best in class. Link to their review here.

When I walked into the Mazda Dealer, I was looking for a quote on my Mazda Miata to use as a bargaining chip with the Nissan Dealer. Since I doubted that they would give me the best quote knowing that I was going to use it elsewhere as leverage I asked to look at one of their cars. Well, actually I asked Gary Potter at More Mazda in Tempe, AZ, the salesman and dealer where I bought my Miata, 3 years before to look at the Mazda 3, a car about the same size as the Leaf.


He told me that with the current promotion that the Mazda 6 was the same price as a 3. He was right. Not the stripped 6 or 3 but I didn't want the stripped car.

He also told me that for the money the top of the line was over priced for what you got. He was right. For Fog Lights, Real Leather and Adaptive Cruise Control it would be over $3000 dollars more. I do wish I had the ADC but the fake leather this car is really nice. There are a few other things but not important at all.

Out the door without my trade the car was $25k.

This car get an average 30MPG. That's real world. The way I drive it. Even pure city driving I get 24 MPG. On the highway I've seen 40 plus MPG.

While the engine is small, only a 2.5L and slow if you compare it to an the BMW 3.5 Turbo engine, twice it as fast, it does a respectable 0-60 in 8.8 seconds. For half the price.

That's plenty of power for your average person and still fun to drive if your not Danicka Patrick.




If your looking for a Midsize Family Sedan then drive this car before you buy another brand. If you live near Phoenix, AZ see Garry Potter at More Mazda and tell him I told you how great it is. Gary beat the Truecar deal by a lot.

You won't regret your Mazda 6 Purchase like my best friend who leased a Honda Accord 3 weeks before I bought it. Actually he's glad he leased his Accord. If he had it to do over again he would have bought the Mazda. Mine has far more options for the same price and it's more fun to drive. In three years he will have another chance.

Just so you don't think I have something against Honda's. Gary lost a deal to Honda from me last summer. We tried the Honda CX-9 and bought the Honda Pilot instead. While the CX-9 is a great car as well, the Honda worked better for us. But I have to say the MPG on the Honda is terrible. The way we drive it the thing only gets about 18 MPG.

I like the Mazda 6 more than I like the BMW 325i. Really, you can buy two Mazda's for the price of one BMW and if you drive the BMW like most people use their cars you will like the Mazda better as well. If you can't pay cash for the BMW you can't really afford it. And just wait till it's out of warranty. BMW maintenance is outrageous.

New update on Feb 26-2015

Edmunds.com has just named the Mazda 6 Best Midsize Car with the lowest 5 year ownership cost.

New update on Mar 17-2015

I decided I really wanted Adaptive Cruise Control and Back Up Sensors.

The car has Blind Spot Sensors and these are great. Just the other day I was changing lanes to my right on a 3 lane roadway. I looked right and it was clear. I put on my right turn signal and started to change lanes when halfway over the warning sounded. I stopped my movement to the right and looked to see the person that was in the far right lane about to run into me. I immediately went back into my lane while she stopped her movement to the center and then retreated to her lane and then sped up and then changed lanes. Since I was already doing the speed limit she must have been in a big hurry.

From the looks of he car (The whole left side was dented and the side mirror was hanging down) I would guess that the last time this happened to her she wasn't as lucky or the other car didn't have the technology I had.

So, I made an appointment to have the A.D.C. and Back Up Sensors installed. It is in the shop having them installed now and Gary made sure I had a loaner car. A Mazda CX-5. It's taking 2 days since they had to paint the sensors to match my car.

While the back up camera is very good it's not enough. You can't always be looking at the screen while backing up. Every once in a while you have to look out in front of the car to make sure you don't hit something or someone when you swing the front around backing up.

At my sons school they want you to back into the parking spots. It's amazing how people just walk around a moving car thinking you will see them and stop.

One other great feature the car came with, cross traffic alert. I am always parking at strip malls where for some reason the people driving by never have the courtesy to let a person backing out of a space go first. They just zoom by like you can see them coming. The sensors have tipped me off to approaching idiots many times.

So why is the adaptive cruise so great? I find myself driving in traffic all the time where there is too much traffic to keep a set speed without correcting often. ADC corrects speed as needed to keep a set distance from the car ahead of you.

Cost to install the two items. $648  Not much more than my collision deductible.